The choice of Senator Sessions to lead the Department of Justice is more than deeply unsatisfactory; it is a blatantly inflammatory act in a time of heightened focus on violence and injustice against communities of color. The Attorney General is the ultimate defender of the rights and liberties of all people in the United States. Sessions’ history of racist rhetoric, insults and persecution is well-known, and put a swift end to his nomination for a federal judgeship years ago.

As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, he became infamous for his prosecutions of African Americans for vote fraud, all of which ended in acquittals. The proposed nomination of this person as a candidate for this position is a shocking gesture of hostility toward millions of Americans, and should be immediately rejected.

From People For The American Way:

The last time Senator Sessions sought Senate confirmation was 1986 when he was nominated to be a federal judge. Despite the fact that Republicans controlled the chamber at the time, he was rejected because of a long history of racially insensitive remarks and a disastrous record on civil rights.

In the last 30 years, Sessions has done nothing that demonstrates that the Senate’s judgement was incorrect or that he’s learned from his mistakes. Instead, he’s spent years making a name for himself as one of the Senate’s most extreme anti-immigrant voices, even attacking the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

As a senator he’s voted in favor of torture programs under the Bush administration and opposed hate crime protections for LGBT people. If anyone still thinks that Donald Trump might govern with more responsibility or moderation than he campaigned, this nomination is a wakeup call. The Senate should reject this nomination.

We’ll likely get similar statements from the ACLU and the NAACP. I’ll add those to this post when they arrive.